For the past couple weeks, we’ve been talking about story middles. Shannon talked about how in the middle you often find cracks in your masterpiece, and fixing character problems that crop up. I talked about creating a big midpoint scene, and the structure of Act II overall.

Now let’s press into what it looks like to create strong obstacles and plot twists in your story, beginning with obstacles.

Creating Meaningful Obstacles

Easy mistakes to make:

Obstacles that don’t relate to the story.

This is by far the easiest mistake to make, I think. As storytellers, we might sense that our scene is dragging a bit, and we need something big to happen to shake up the action. There is that old writing adage, that if the story gets boring, someone should walk in with a gun.

As with the writing adage that we discussed a few weeks ago, about how the second act involves throwing rocks at your character, this advice is meant to be oversimplified. I recognize that … but I also know that I have been guilty of throwing meaningless rocks and bringing meaningless guns into scenes.

Of course, this begs the question, how do we create meaningful obstacles? We we’ll circle back to that in a minute. Let’s look at a couple other mistakes first.

Obstacles that only affect the main character.

Another easy mistake to make is to only consider the main character, and not think about how the obstacle impacts other characters.

While, yes, our biggest concern is the main character, we miss out on a lot story enrichment opportunities if we don’t consider how an obstacle might impact other characters.

Obstacles that are more about not-dealing than dealing.

One of my biggest pet peeves in stories is when there is an obstacle that would be very easy to overcome … if the characters would only talk about it.

Yes, very few people say everything that is on their minds, and it’s good to build in miscommunications and lack of communications. But too often I see writers try to use “not talking about it” as a big obstacle.

Unless characters have a very good reason for not talking about what they know, this gets very aggravating. Yes, there’s a place for it, but don’t try to make too big of a place for it.

Put Your Obstacles To The Test

Meaningful obstacles contribute to the story goal.

The story goal is whatever your characters main push is through the story. Frodo has to get that ring back to Mordor. Harry has to figure out the mystery of the chamber of secrets. Katniss has to survive the Games. 

My life as a writer became much easier when I understood the concept of a story goal. The Lost Girl of Astor Street is the first book that I wrote where I had a clear idea the entire time of what the main plot was (Piper has to find Lydia) and that made it so much easier when it came to determining what belonged in the story, and what did not.

For some stories, it’s easier to determine the main story goal. I know it was especially difficult for me back when I was a pure pantser, but until you determine your story goal, you will probably struggle with what is meaningful conflict and what is conflict for the sake of conflict.

Meaningful obstacles contribute to character growth.

Obstacles directly impact your characters’ arcs. That’s why meaningful obstacles can make or break the middle of your books, because this is when your character is transforming so they can rock the climax of the story.

Obstacles need to push your character past their comfort level. They should grow them in their relationships, their understanding of the antagonist, and their understanding of themselves.

Meaningful obstacles require a choice.

They force your character to act. Coming up against a meaningful obstacle means your character cannot go on with their day as planned. They must make a decision.

Crafting Strong Plot Twists

Sometimes plot twists and obstacles are the same thing. We have varying degrees of plot twists in our stories, right? Some feel more like plot bends, where others feel like you’ve hit the corkscrew part on a roller coaster. (Shudder)

Since many of the suggestions above can apply to smaller plot twists, for this section let’s focus on those big plot twists. How do you create strong, big plot twists?

Easy mistakes to make with plot twists:

It’s too out of the blue.

This happened to me in my first draft of The Lost Girl of Astor Street. I realized that my villain didn’t come on the stage until way late in the book, which is no fun when you’re reading a mystery.

When you hit a big plot twist, you want to be able to look back and realize that there were clues along the way. Yes, it should be a surprise, but the reader should also feel that sense of, “Ohhhhhh, now that thing from chapter five makes sense!”

The reader saw it coming.

The inverse of “too out of the blue” is an easy mistake too.

Because we’re worried about the twist feeling too out of the blue, sometimes we put a few too many neon, flashing arrows when we’re dropping our clues. Dialogue like, “Gee, John, it’s so great that you’re an expert swordsman, and that you sometimes drop by in the middle of the afternoon when we least expect you,” should be scaled back. (*Wink*)

It doesn’t hold up when you re-read.

I had this happen recently, where I read a book and really enjoyed it the first time.

But when I read it a second time, the way characters interacted in the beginning didn’t make sense to me now that I knew what the big reveal was.

For example, if later in the book you reveal that these two characters are actually brothers, then you better have a darn good reason why early in the book when they were interacting, that information didn’t come out.

How to create strong, impactful plot twists:

Often plot twists happen in the editing stage. So, if you are still writing your first draft, and you feel like your plot twists are falling short, do not panic. So much of this work can happen in the edits.

Strong and impactful plot twists have many of the same traits as meaningful obstacles. They contribute to the main story goal, they force the character to make a choice, they aid character growth, and they are surprising, yes, but they also make sense.

Exercises for Brainstorming Plot Twists:

Something I like to do—sometimes in the first draft stage but more often in the second draft—is try to come up with some unique, previously unknown connections between my characters. (This is an exercise I first read in Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, but I’ve adapted it a bit for my own needs.)

For this exercise, I pull out a pack of index cards. I pick five or so characters and write one name on each notecard, then stack them in a pile, writing-side down.

Then I pick five or so big(ish) events in the book, like “Piper skips school” or “Dad announces his engagement.” I write one event on each notecard, then stack them in a separate pile.

And then I’ll pick out a few settings from the story—Piper’s school, the speakeasy, Astor Street—and write those down in the same fashion, then put them in their own pile.

Sometimes I spread the cards flat like I’m playing a game of Memory, and sometimes I keep them in piles and just draw the top card from each. Either way, you want to pick three cards. Maybe one from each category, or maybe it’ll be more fun to pick from the same category. Your choice!

When combined, the cards typically make no sense. I might end up with Piper’s dad, skipping school, and Astor Street. Those are three things that never intersect during the story, but then I sit there and try to come up with ways that I could make them intersect. And if not all three of them, maybe two. Does her dad find out she skipped school? How? Or what could skipping school and Astor Street have in common?

Once I’ve exhausted possibilities, I set the cards aside and draw a new set. I’ve found this is a great way to get me thinking creatively about my story, and I always walk away with something I love and never would’ve thought of otherwise.

This can also help you to fill in the “gaps” if you’ve spotted big holes in your story.

And here’s a link to another exercise that Jill posted once before:

Try-fail cycles

How are we feeling about middles now? Feeling better equipped?